Community > Non-Thorn Related
Soliciting Suspension seatpost recommendations
Danneaux:
--- Quote ---...for me getting the height of the saddle just right is critical for a Brooks and also for my knees. We are talking mm here!
--- End quote ---
Hi Geo'!
I think you've touched on the "stopper" that has been lying in the back of my mind wrt suspension seatposts.
After injuring my knees in that car wreck at age 16, I've had to be really careful not to re-aggravate them, and -- just as you said -- even mm of difference in saddle height start the bone-deep aching again. My recent adventure trying clipless shoes knocked me right off the bike, made even walking difficult, and I've lost a lot of sleep due to the knee pain resuming. I never figured the lightest pedal spring-release tension and heel-out movement could possibly aggravate such ancient injuries. I seem to have found my solution in multirelease cleats and "baby-mode" Shimano T400 pedals dialed back to minimum tension.
I'm not sure I would fare as well wrt to dynamic changes in saddle height -- at least not while I'm still icing my knees. Best to wait and let things settle down, then re-evaluate the sus-post thing.
It may well be the "best" sus-post solution for me is one that can be tuned to act as a rigid post in all circumstances except when encountering the Big Bumps -- as Richard (Stuntpilot) has set his. Adjusted that way, the saddle would "give" only momentarily when really needed and my knees wouldn't have to deal with much change in height.
Martin, I have to agree...Brooks' springs have become thicker and less responsive in recent years.
Thanks, fellows; really helpful input.
Best,
Dan.
Andre Jute:
I thought yesterday of suggesting a Brooks extra-spring saddle ("extra" because the leather hammock is already a spring) but refrained because the ones with the right springs, with progressive suspension, are the helical coil-sprung models, and the best ones among them are wider than the B17 — and Dan had earlier in another thread ruled out saddles wider than the B17.
I like the B73, which I bought on a halfprice sale at SJS as a wild experiment and loved so much that I have ridden nothing else since, even giving up my beloved Cheeko90 (a seat rather than a saddle) for the Brooks. The street myth from people who haven't ridden the triple-coil sprung Brooks that it sways from side to side is rubbish; it doesn't because the springs are too stiff. But they are tempered just right to keep the road buzz out of your coccyx and thence your spine, so the ride is very relaxing. On washboard and brandnew cheap chipseal surfaces they're too stiff to help much (I use the B73 in a complete system with 60mm low pressure balloons), or perhaps one just notices more because the rest of the ride is so plush. But they shine in crashing through potholes, which here is inevitable, the more so if you ride fast on my narrow roads and lanes, when you often have to ride through the pothole as the alternative might be an incident with a car or a spill. At my age I can't afford a broken hipbone, so a saddle that helps keep you on the road regardless of potholes is worth twice the full price of the Brooks.
Unfortunately the B73 is the third heaviest of the current Brooks saddles (the B135 and B190 are heavier than the B73 by more than the weight of the B72!). But there's a lighter version called the B72, very rare but listed by SJS. It doesn't have the full helical springs of the big brother B73 (now revealed as a brilliant compromise!), but what makes the coiled springs so good isn't their coiling but their length; coiling is not an operating function but a space-saving device. This B72 has a pair of extra-long sprung rails with a single longitudinal coil in each. See the frame at http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/page/find/?name=Brooks%20B72&page=1 The B72 should thus be lighter -- compare with the B73 components and assume heavier leather too at http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/page/find/?name=Brooks%20B73&page=1 -- than the B73 by a good deal (1100 - 690 = 410gr), and almost as stiff/compliant under the relevant conditions as the B73, because of the very long effective rail. Also, probably important to a dyed in the wool traditionalist like Dan, the B72 looks more like a proper fast touring cycle saddle than the B73, which is clearly designed for the middle-aged sybarite's sitzplatz.
I wouldn't use any of the Brooks saddles, including the B17, with a sprung seat post. The B17 is itself already a double suspension medium of leather and slightly flexible rails. Brooks lucked out with the combination because the leather is so extremely adaptable. But adding a third suspension medium with yet another set of frequencies is a recipe for introducing disastrously tiring microfrequencies into your bum and thence into your spine and nervous system even on good roads, while doing nothing to make bad roads more tolerable.
***
Dan, I've had the USE in two or three of the cheaper models (no better in use than really cheap stuff with a one-year lifespan, though more tuneable), a Suntour NCX and the smaller Thudbuster because it was all that would fit on that bike. The Suntour works just as well at half the price of the Thudbuster and better than the more expensive USE. Both the parallelograms are superior to the USE in use. I can't tell you anything about longevity because I kept none but the USE very long and that only for a year. In my opinion, suspension seat posts aren't a solution or in many cases even an amelioration but the cause of further complications and problems.
Andre Jute
StuntPilot:
I have just posted a review of the SR Suntour SP12-NCX on my blog. Detailing my experience of the seat post, it adds comments on the good and bad with plenty photos.
Despite the down sides, I love the SR Suntour post and how it performs on a long tour ...
http://www.touronabike.com/sr-suntour-sp12-ncx-suspension-seat-post-review/
Hope that provides some input for those deciding to buy or not.
Danneaux:
Wow! Richard! Is that ever helpful; thanks so much for this.
All the best,
Dan. (...who will re-read as he ponders further)
Andre Jute:
--- Quote from: StuntPilot on October 01, 2013, 08:19:52 pm ---http://www.touronabike.com/sr-suntour-sp12-ncx-suspension-seat-post-review/
--- End quote ---
Thank you so much for that. Makes me want to try it again -- the last time I had one, briefly, was before the recent redesign with brash bushings etc, though I hasten to add I didn't sell it on for any quality issues but simply because it wasn't in use after I changed bikes and saddles and someone else lusted after it. But now Julian has sent me his adaptor for Brooks twin rail to micro-adjustable seat post, so I could conceivably fit any seat post. Mmm...
That's a really good point in the article about a one-motion return to the original position, and the effect on control of the bike over rough roads or in unexpected situations.
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